Livestreaming can be even more effective on Facebook because the platform
caters to that content type—and 78 percent of the platform’s users are
already watching videos.

“Live video is enticing because in an over-filtered world, audiences feel a
greater sense of authenticity,” says Brie Strickland, social business
specialist for Southwest Airlines. “You never know what might happen and I
think audiences really appreciate brands being vulnerable like that in lieu
of the heavily produced and scripted videos that are everywhere.”

Follow these tips to take advantage of live video and help your content
marketing efforts soar:

1. Focus on your viewers.

“Southwest goes live to satisfy one or more of the following areas—to
celebrate, inform, and recruit,” Strickland says.

A few examples are Southwest’s live videos with a member of its
meteorologist team, discussing the solar eclipse:

Another Facebook Live video from Southwest’s Network Operations Control
warned travelers about the effects of Hurricane Matthew:

Thinking of your viewers when preparing to go live on Facebook can help you
create content that your consumers want to watch—but it can also guide your
PR and marketing decisions in other ways.

Putting your audience first can also help you decide which platform to use
when livestreaming—and where to allocate budget dollars. This can be
especially helpful for communicators with small budgets and large goals to
accomplish.

Strickland says:

When determining where to allocate budget for live video, we evaluate our
‘why’ and focus on the platform that best suits that pillar. We also
believe in cultivating the audiences we already have on established
channels, rather than jumping to new channels and focusing budget there
before we’ve built it out on our bread and butter. With that being said, we
always try to at the very least explore new channels and are never afraid
to make a switch if something isn’t working, but that primarily requires
resources beyond what constitutes a traditional budget.

PR and marketing pros should use a variety of social media platforms and
employ new or different tactics in order to create videos that give the
biggest bang for their bucks—but ultimately, cater to the places where your
consumers reside online and subjects they care most about.

‘We’ll always try to be in the same places as our customers, in the way
that best suits them,” says Strickland.

2. Listen for feedback—and potential stories.

As with any content efforts, livestreams can be greatly improved by PR pros
who are constantly on the lookout for trends, customer preferences and news
hooks.

Strickland offered examples of how Southwest uses a Listening Center each
day to “scour social for what [its] customers are thinking, feeling, and
sharing.” The airline also featured a few employees who are also military
veterans live from the center to support its “A Million Thanks” campaign:

However, you don’t need a special room to watch out for news, trends and
customer feedback—nor do you need a big budget or team to uncover consumer
stories and increase engagement.

Strickland says:

It doesn’t take a command center to listen on some level. Brand managers
also hold the key to eliciting some of that user-generated content through
engaging, rich media, with specific calls to action. We live in a world
where people love sharing their stories, they just need a place to do it
and to know someone is listening.

Facebook Live videos should be authentic and are often unscripted, but that
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan an outline with specific goals for each
live stream.

Southwest uses a storyboard approach and employs the “5 C’s” when preparing
for its livestreams. Those are, Strickland explains:

Continuity:
The theme of your live stream

Content:
Stories that support your continuous theme during the live stream

Characters:
Individuals or groups that are the focus of your stories

Composition:
Camera shots and the overall look and feel of your live stream

Completion:
Defining success metrics and gathering the data

Using a storyboard approach can help live videos enhance more produced
pieces of content. Take, for example, Southwest’s video introducing its new
employee uniforms:

The airline’s Facebook Live video showed off employees’ thoughts and
excitement about the uniforms, along with reasons why the new outfits were
chosen:

Planning out live streams is a good way to divvy out your budget, too.

Strickland says:

From the outset, I think it’s important to begin by figuring things out
organically. If you’re privileged enough to get a budget first, it should
still be preceded by organic test-and-learn.

… You should also assess how you’re going to allocate the money—is it going
to equipment, the experience, distribution, or a combination? Brand
managers should understand the ‘why’ when allocating budget video efforts.

4. Measure, measure, measure.

The goal of any livestreaming strategy—whether on Facebook or other social
media platforms—should be to meet your campaign’s goals and objectives and
ultimately boost your organization’s ROI.

Strickland says that many times, engagement and sentiment will remain
consistent across social media channels, but your audience’s demographics
might change from platform to platform—which can change “the kind of
experience they’re seeking from channel to channel.”

One Facebook Live video that resonated with Southwest’s viewers was the
final flight of former captain Lou Freeman, the airline’s longest-tenured
pilot. The livestream racked up roughly 314,000 views along with 9,200
likes and 1,270 shares. More than 1,500 comments congratulated Freeman and
his efforts.

“With live video, a good place to start measuring is viewership and the
amount of time people are engaging with the video,” Strickland says.
“Experiment with time of day and day of the week to better understand when
your audience is tuning in most and the longest. […] Authentic engagement
in the form of KPIs like shares and comments reveals how well the content
is resonating with that audience.”